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Thursday, January 24, 2013

At the beginning of last year, we pulled together our favourite books of the previous twelve months - and this year we're doing it again. All the staff are choosing their favourite titles, and first up is Ellie with her picks of 2012...

A Face Like Glass –
Frances Hardinge

"Before last year I hadn’t read any Frances Hardinge and now I can’t
believe how much I had been missing out! Twilight
Robbery came out in paperback early in 2012 and I picked it up thinking it
looked interesting, not realising that it was a sequel . . . luckily this
didn’t really matter and I was very quickly hooked, so much so that several
books later I’m now eagerly awaiting the next Hardinge book.

A Face Like Glass is a typical Frances Hardinge book and has
everything I would expect from her previous books: a gripping narrative, great
characters and fantastic writing – in fact her writing style is something that
I love the most and I think makes her stand out from the rest of children’s
fiction – it’s tight, imaginative prose with a good amount of humour coming
through. She doesn't write down to her audience and her books are perfect for
the more advanced 9+ reader and suitable for up to 12+.

When 5-year-old
Neverfell turns up in Grandible’s cheese tunnels he's surprised that someone
has been able to evade the very extensive defences that he’s been working on
for years - and even more shocked by her face. But he takes her under his wing
and starts teaching her his skills and protects her from the world outside his
tunnels. For seven years Neverfell lives with Grandible, working on his cheeses
and wearing a mask whenever she answers the front door or gives the cheeses to
the delivery boys, convinced that her face is so horrible no-one will be able
to stand to look at it.

Then one day she suddenly finds herself in the
'outside' world of Caverna - a mass of tunnels extending up, down, and back on
itself, where plots and assassinations are part of everyday life. Here she
finds that her face is more dangerous than she could have imagined. For, in
this world, everyone must learn their expressions; happy, sad, angry . . . they
must all be taught by the Facesmiths. But Neverfell’s face is like nothing in
Caverna – it’s a face like glass that needs no taught expression for it shows her
thoughts and emotions clearly for everyone to read. It is more dangerous than
she could possibly realise and, in a world where people covet the best and
latest in fashions, Neverfell becomes the next desirable commodity to acquire .
. .

A Face Like Glass is a
riveting read and Frances Hardinge creates a truly imaginative, exciting and
quirky world. Whilst her books are fantasy books, I think they would
appeal to a much wider audience – anyone who’s read Kate O’Hearn, Philip Reeve,
Maile Meloy’s The Apothecary or other
adventure stories would be sure to enjoy these. I wouldn’t compare them to
these books, but I think anyone who likes exciting adventures will get a lot
out of Frances Hardinge.!

"I’m a big fan of
Michelle Paver – years ago my younger sister really got into the Chronicles of Darkness Trilogy and I was
one of the last in my family to borrow the books and be completely captivated
by her stories. I was quite excited that she had started a new series and eager
to find out if it was as good as the tales of Renn, Torak and his pack-brother
Wolf. I am pleased to say it lived up to everything I had hoped.

Set in the
Mycenean Bronze Age, the story takes place a few thousand years later than Wolf Brother. As with Wolf Brother, there is a little bit of
magic involved in the book, but it is a magic evoked from the old ways and is
in keeping with the prehistoric and superstitious nature of the society – a
society that is still close to nature and believes in gods who control
different aspects of life and the elements. The magic in it doesn’t get in the
way of the story and certainly doesn’t make it overly a fantasy novel, but
gives it an otherworldly quality of ancient worlds.

The story is based
around three children – Hylas, an Outsider and poor goatherd, his friend,
Telamon, a wealthy chieftain’s son and Pirra, the daughter of a high priestess
destined for an arranged marriage but longing for the freedom she thought was
promised to her when she reached the age of 12. This first book centres around
Hylas who is caught up in the chase to recover a sacred dagger that The Crows –
so named because of their dark skin and armour - believe make them invincible.
Believing an outsider to have stolen it, they are hunting them all down and in
the ensuing chaos Hylas and his little sister are separated. Concerned that she
will never survive on her own, Hylas sets out to find her but must also protect
himself as the Crows continue to search for him and the dagger.

These three
characters are all quite different and the conflicts that inevitably arise add
to the believability and reality of the story. Hylas is tough and self-reliant
because as an orphan looking after his younger sister he’s always had to be. He
knows little of the world beyond the mountains in which he tends the locals’ goats
except what he’s heard from stories. Telamon, an unlikely friend, is the
complete opposite and is caught between loyalties – to Hylas, to his father and
to his clan and honour. Then there is Pirra, a girl who is used to a world of
luxury but would prefer her own freedom to all the trinkets in the world, and she
will do anything to get it. Their different characters means there is often
conflict between them and Hylas and Pirra especially must learn to trust one
another if they are to escape. Finally, there is Spirit – a dolphin that rescues
and befriends Hylas and whose voice really adds to the story.

Paver’s books
are brilliant for children 9+, with fantastic writing and
her amazing research shows through, adding seamlessly to the story without
being forced or unnecessarily included. What is especially nice is that Paver
writes a book unequivocally for and about children and whilst parts of the
story are told from the point of view of animals, it’s never cheesy or out of
place and works really well. All her characters are wonderful and vibrant,
showing their courage and strength in different ways. I would strongly
recommend reading any of her books."

Bellwether
Revivals – Benjamin Wood

"Up for the Costa
this year, it definitely deserved some recognition. I read this at the
beginning of last year when it came out in hardback and absolutely loved it.
When I had to think of my top books from last year, I really struggled, as is
inevitable when you read a lot, it can be difficult to remember everything and
pick out the especially good ones from all the generally enjoyable ones!

This book really
did linger with me afterwards and was one I repeatedly recommended to friends
and family so qualifies perfectly for my favourite books of the year. It had the
feel of some of the old classics, Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead or Fitzgerald, the doomed upper class family etc,
exploring some interesting themes including education and class, sanity and
madness and science and faith. It is a powerful read that explores the
vulnerabilities of genius and the naivity of young, bright minds and centres
around the Bellwether family and Oscar Lowe.

Oscar, a bookish
young care assistant, is on his way home one day when he is drawn into a church
by the music drifting out of its doors. In this way he happens to meet the
beautiful Iris Bellwether, a medical student, and her idiosyncratic brother,
Eden, an organist whose music it was that so attracted Oscar that fateful
night. Falling in love with Iris he is drawn into her privileged and educated
world amid the Cambridge
colleges and finds himself caught up in the strange machinations of the
brilliant but troubled Eden.
A music prodigy, he believes in the healing power of music and the theories of
a forgotten Baroque composer, Johann Mattheson. He’s so
adamant in these theories that he undertakes a series of disturbing experiments
with his friends to prove himself right – sometimes without their consent.

Iris is
concerned that her brother might suffer from delusions of grandeur and asks
Oscar to help her find proof of Eden’s
illness so she can get him psychiatric help. So enters Herbert Crest, an
elderly psychologist who is researching alternative medicine and the healing
power of faith. The question of Eden’s
sanity soon becomes obvious as things begin spiraling out of control, with conflicts
rising to the surface and only Oscar seems to recognise the danger.

It is with a
wonderful languid pace and compelling opening scene that Wood grips you
immediately, increasing to an intense climax but all written with a beautifully
deft and light touch. This is a gripping and skillful debut novel with richly
drawn character and I look forward to more from Benjamin Wood."

Raven Black – Ann Cleaves

"I only discovered Ann Cleeves earlier last year when we did an event with her. Her Shetland series has now become one of my favourite crime
literature books. Set in the Shetland Isles, they have a wonderful atmosphere
to them and I really love the characters, particularly the laid back Inspector
Jimmy Perez. This book won the Crime Writers’ Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger
for 2006, and definitely deserved to.

What I
particularly love about Ann Cleeves’ books are the sense of place she creates –
the cold and the isolation of these islands is almost tangible, along with the
dominant, clawing tight knit community where nothing is able to be kept secret
for long and where all appear united but tensions lie just below the surface.
There is a slight Nordic quality to the place (but not to the plot line!). I
really like Ann Cleaves’ writing which is light crime and, I feel, more like
crime literature than crime thrillers or dramas as they are very much about
solving the crime and the mystery rather than being overly dramatic.

After dropping
her daughter off at school one morning, shortly after New Year, Fran Hunter
finds her eye drawn to a violent slash of red across the snow. As a painter,
she draws closer thinking solely of the colours and composition, only to
discover the body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. The locals soon
focus their attention on one man – a loner and simpleton who has once before
been accused of the abduction and murder of a young girl eight years previously,
Magnus Tate. The community is soon consumed by an atmosphere of suspicion and
fear as outside officers are called in to help and Inspector Jimmy Perez must
try to stop the investigation becoming too narrow. Slowly but surely, using his
own methods which rely more on talking and observing, he uncovers the hidden
secrets and relationships under pressure that lead him to the killer.

It is a neatly
plotted book with a good pace and is beautifully written, combining perfectly
the old-fashioned mystery whodunnit with the psychological crime. All the
characters have their own voice and are depicted really well, and there are
enough of them for there to be plenty of suspects, clues and red-herrings to
keep you guessing. It builds to a great climax and conclusion and after reading
this I have now read the following two in the series and see them as a real
treat to read. If you’re not so much of a crime thriller reader, but enjoy the
odd mystery then you might like this too."

The Other Half
of Me - Morgan McCarthy

"The Other Half of Me is a
darkly gothic and memorable debut about two siblings growing up in a rather
grand but neglected Welsh manor house. Whilst not a fast-paced book, I found it
thoroughly enjoyable and what I particularly found gripping was the dark
undertone conveyed through the undercurrent of conflict within the family and
put under further strain by their deeply buried secrets. McCarthy has a
beautiful writing style with elegant and evocative descriptive prose.

The book
predominantly focuses on the lives of Jonathan and his little sister Theo as
they grow up in the large house and wild gardens of their ancestral home,
Evendon, in Wales.
They run wild most of the time, living a free and languid life filled with
Theo’s extravagant fantasies and games exploring the mysteries and hidden parts
of the garden. With few friends at school the two are understandably very
close, an inevitable result of their mother’s neglect and are only partially
governed by the cook, cleaner and nanny, and presided over by the dominating
portrait in the dining room of their grandmother Eve.After their mother, Alicia, attempts suicide
and is sent away for help, the mysterious and grand Eve comes home to look
after them. Whilst Jonathan comes to idolize Eve, Theo’s odd-behaviour becomes more
apparent in contrast to Eve’s cultured and dominant matriarchal character.

Theo continues
to grow more ethereal and vacant, living in her own world and on the occasions
that she seems more lucid and tangible she is disturbed by odd ideas and
whisperings of the family’s dark secrets behind closed doors. In contrast, Jonathan
is ambitious and works hard to impress Eve and emulate her business success as
he trains to become an architect. Whilst he moves on and leaves Evendon, he
becomes more distant with Theo and misunderstands her own-preoccupations and
behaviour as a result of drug use. The growing gap between Jonathon and Theo is
echoed with his relationship with his childhood friend and neighbour, Maria, a
girl he is in love with but who finds his ambition is making him increasingly
callous and cold.Whilst Jonathan thrives in his new environment, encouraged by
Eve and his own success, Theo does not, constantly dropping out of college
courses and Eve-arranged jobs. Unreliable and flaky, her behaviour irritates
Eve beyond endurance as she becomes increasingly obsessed with their long-lost
father and is convinced that all the stories they have been told about his
disappearance are lies. Soon the mysteries of Evendon and the fates of all the
people surrounding Eve bring tragedy to this haunted family.

This was a
beautiful but brooding story of these two children and the sad glamour in which
they are constantly surrounded. It was the kind of book that grips you without
overly relying on drama and focused more on the psychological effects brought
about by family secrets. McCarthy is a master at crafting this tragic tale of
damaged souls in a way that enthralls the reader. Certainly it is a story of
lies and sadness, mystery and loneliness but it is also one of love."

Friday, January 18, 2013

Next Tuesday (Jan 22) we are launching a special, regular
storytime for under-5s until Easter. It takes place at 2pm each Tuesday
afternoon on the storymat in the front of the shop. No need to book, just turn
up and sit down...

'We Love You Hugless Douglas' is the latest picture book
from Abingdon's own David Melling. The loveable bear has become a firm
pre-school favourite, as he tries to work out some of life's trickier questions
and challenges (such as "where to get the perfect hug?"). In his latest adventure,
Douglas helps a pal find a missing friend, and after sadly pondering why he
doesn't have a 'best friend', events conspire to give him a big - and lovely -
surprise.

We shall be reading 'We Love You Hugless Douglas' at
storytime on Tuesday...and there will be some Hugless activities and goodies to
be won all day!

At the moment we have a buy one get one free on a lovely
range of Walker classic picture book - but amongst the more well-known titles
(such as 'Dogger' and 'Where The Wild Things Are') there are a few gems that we
feel deserve to be rediscovered. Our pick is 'Mrs Pepperpot Learns to Swim' -
the stories of Mrs Pepperpot by Norwegian author Alf Proysen were first
published in 1956 ('The Teaspoon Lady' in Norwegian apparently!) and the
translations by Hilda Offen have been discovered by generations of children in
this country since then.

Finally, a brand new picture book that we feel will
become a classic.

In Kristyna Litten's 'Chickens Can't See In The Dark'., Little
Pippa is told something she thinks is an old hen's tale, and - with the aid of
a library and a whole load of carrots - she sets out to dispel the myth about
chickens eyesight when the sun goes down.

A lovely, funny tale with a gentle
moral at the end of thinking for yourself (and lots of ways to cook carrots!)

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Author's get asked the best questions when they visit primary schools. Once you push past the common questions of 'Where do you get your ideas' and 'Who was your favourite author' you tend to get less obvious questions.Questions such as 'what would you have done if you hadn't been a children's writer?' or even 'what's your favourite cheese?'

Susie Day - author of 'Peas Book of Best Friends' - handled these and other questions brilliantly talking to pupils from Dunmore Primary School and Carswell Community School.

Susie took the children on her journey to becoming a writer, starting with her desire to be a children's character (Lucy from Narnia, a Moomin, etc.) through to her hopelessly romantic idea of what a writer was (quill pen, castle, etc.) before explaining the reality of writing (scribbled notes in between changing nappies, sorting post and being a tour guide).

For those budding writers in the audience (and there were plenty more I suspect once Susie had finished) she took them through the basics of character, setting and plot - before getting children to guess what was in the box as a way of getting ideas to start telling a story.

There was audience participation too: volunteers were asked out the front to tell the story of Pea, her Mum and two sisters. She confessed that the idea for Peas Book of Best Friends was sown by thinking about JK Rowling, and in particular what it must have been like for her eldest daughter suddenly finding herself with a very famous writer Mum...

The children at both schools had prepared brilliantly, and were a hugely attentive and engaged audience.

(What was particularly thrilling to discover was that Dunmore has a Friday afternoon writing activity called "Write Here, Write Now" in which children are encouraged to do free writing for 30 minutes. It's a great initiative - and we could definitely spot a few budding authors in the queue to meet Susie after the event.)

A huge thank you to both schools for being such wonderful hosts, to the children for giving Susie such a warm and enthusiastic welcome - and of course to Susie for revealing so much about her writing journey and giving such an inspirational and entertaining talk.

As always - we made sure Susie gave a little more insight into the writing process, and we asked her five little questions...Five questions with...Susie Day's Writing Life1. What are you working on at the moment?

I am currently writing Peas Book of Birthdays. It's due
on July, so I have until the end of January to finish it!

2. What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?

"Writing is re-writing" - lots of people have
said this, not sure who said it originally though! But it's great advice.

3. What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?

The best is getting to work in your PJs (not sure you
should write that) - and of course going to schools, meeting your readers - which
is a joy. The worst is when the writing is going really badly, you have no
ideas in your head, and you think 'I can't do this'. This happens a lot during
the writing process incidentally!

4. Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing of snack essential before you can start work?

Tea! And lots of it! In my big special mug. And Ceylon tea if possible (you get the idea!)

5. What was your biggest breakthrough?

It was when I won a competition, the BBC Talent
Children's Writer's Prize 2004. This was the first time I had shown my writing
to anyone, and also the first time I had told people in my family I was writer.
Everything flowed from there.

Friday, January 11, 2013

If you have little ones (or know anyone who does!) we will be launching a brand new, weekly Storytime for Under 5s starting on Tuesday 22nd January at 2pm. Lasting for about half an hour, we’ll be picking a mix of classic and brand new picture books to read on the big story mat in the front of the shop.Storytime will be free – simply drop in and take a seat! More details can be found if you take a look at a rather special bear sitting in our window at the moment. There's a clue here to one of the books we'll be reading from during the first storytime...

If ‘joining a bookgroup’ made it onto your new year resolutions list, we have a few places free for our Wednesday evening bookgroup which takes place at St Ethelwold’s House on the first Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm. There is an annual fee of £25 which covers room-hire costs.

Email us if you are interested and come along to a ‘taster’ on Wednesday, February 6 at 7.30pm – we shall be discussing 'Land of Decoration' by Grace McCleen, and copies are available at Mostly Books (ask for a bookgroup discount if you want to read along).

Finally: did you watch the BBC’s Stargazing Live this week? Have Professor Brian Cox and Dara O’Briain got you yearning to point a telescope at the planets? As some of you will know, Mark is a tiny bit obsessed with space (that's an understatement) but we've put together a selection of astronomy titles (for all ages), for beginner to seasoned telescope-wielding pro.DK's excellent 'The Practical Astronomer' is a good place to start for the beginner - but come in and have a look at our ‘stellar’ display...

Friday, January 04, 2013

New year means 'new reading', and we welcome the now-traditional curtain raiser to the year: who has won the Costa Book Awards. With categories covering novels, first novels, biography, poetry and the best children’s book of the year, it’s a first chance to see what were the great authors and books to emerge from the past year.

So the first '3 4 Friday' #fridayreads of 2013 are our pick of the category winners:

Hilary Mantel’s ‘Bring Up The Bodies’ was no surprise winner - either for best new novel or overall winner. Following on from her tour de force in ‘Wolf Hall’, she returns to the same period and the same characters to continue the story of Tudor history through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. One of the most talked about books of last year in the shop, for anyone who loved 'Wolf Hall' the feeling was that 'bodies' was an even more accomplished book.

Probably the most original of choices for the Costa is a graphic memoir, which has won the biography category, and is the first comic-book format ever to do so.

Part personal history, part biography, ‘Dotter of Her Father's Eyes’ by Mary Talbot weaves two stories together: that of the author's own troubled relationship with her father, the eminent Joycean scholar James S Atherton, and the story of James Joyce's tragic daughter Lucia, who spent the last 30 years of her life in a mental institution.

Its atmospheric, visual storytelling by award winning comic artist and graphic novel pioneer Bryan Talbot, has obviously caught the imagination of the judges. Even as graphic works continue to grow in popularity, it is still unusual to see a collaboration between writer and artist - rarer yet to see one achieve critical acclaim in a 'mainstream' genre. 'Dotter of Her Father's Eyes' is intelligent, funny and sad.

Children’s book of the year goes to Sally Gardner for ‘Maggot Moon’. Best known for her previous children’s novel ‘I Coriander’, Sally Gardner is no stranger to awards. This one for teens is an Orwellian world viewed through the eyes of a dyslexic boy. It’s a brutal, although ultimately uplifting story.

Here's Mark's review when it came it out in hardback last year:

"This is a brilliant - if brutal - portrayal of the triumph of individualism over a totalitarian state. Deserving comparisons with 1984, the story follows Standish Treadwell, a dyslexic, drop-out under surveillance in Zone Seven of 'The Motherland'. When his football accidentally goes over the fence into a no-man's land, he discovers the Motherland's plans for a Moon Landing are not all they seem, and he - and a rag-tag group of other undesirables and family members overcome their fear and hopelessness to reveal the truth..."
It's been a great year for Sally Gardner - as far as Mostly Books is concerned - with 'Operation Bunny' one of our biggest-selling books over Christmas. Special congratulations should go to her, and also to publisher Hot Key Books, scoring a big success in its first full year publishing children's books.
Whatever your plans and dreams are for 2013, we wish you every success - and we'll be here as always to tell you about the best new voices and stories that emerge as the year progresses...